Yet urges egg producers to blood sample flocks
LANCASTER A simple
program of blood sampling can
help poultrymen keep tabs on the
health of their flocks, and if
something goes wrong with a
particular flock, the samples can
be used to track down the causes.
“Blood sampling is still a
relatively new area of poultry
management," Dr. Clyde Marsh
told a gathering of 150 egg
producers and poultry industry
suppliers Friday, April 2, at the
Lancaster Farm and Home
Center.
“But it can be a very effective
tool for determining whether or not
vaccination programs are
working, and for tracing disease
problems all the way back to their
beginnings.”
Dr. Marsh is an Ohio
State University veterinarian who
spends half his tune on poultry
farms, working with flocks and
their owners. His byline shows up
regularly in national poultry
publications and he’s a frequent
guest speaker at poultry functions.
He was in Lancaster at the in
vitation of Pennfield Corporation,
sponsors of a day-long seminar on
profitable poultry farming.
Blood sampling doesn’t have to
be complicated, Dr. Marsh said. In
a typical layer house with 60,000
birds, just 10 individual birds can
serve as sampling subjects, if
they’re spaced fairly evenly
A Cage isn’t enough
throughout the house. Every two
months he recommends with
drawing 5 cc’s of blood from the
brachial vein of each test bird.
Throughout the laying cycle, he
said, these test birds should always
be the same individuals.
The blood samples should be
allowed to sit at room temperature
for a few hours. After a while, the
red blood cells will form a clot over
a cloudy liquid, the blood serum.
The clot should be thrown away
and the serum stored in a freezer.
It contains all the antibodies
produced by the birds to combat all
the diseases they’ve ever been
exposed to. If the flock gets sick,
the samples can be used to
determine whether or not the birds
were vaccinated for the particular
illness, or whether or not the
vaccine used lost its effectiveness
over a penod of several months.
Some advocates of blood sam
pling feel more than 10 birds
should be used. They recommend
as many as 75 or 100 individuals in
the testing program. Dr. Marsh
feels that’s much too ambitious.
It’s impractical for working
poultrymen, he said, and not worth
the effort.
Dr. Marsh appeared before the
group once in the morning and
again in the afternoon, and talked
about much more than blood
sampling. A number of Pennfield
people shared the podium with
him. Ray Lehr, Manager of Feed
Marketing; Dr. John Fidler,
Manager of technical services;
Scott Buckwalter, sales coor
dinator for layer feeds; and credit
manager James Vaughn spoke on
managing layer flocks for better
profits
While layer management has
made impressive strides over the
years, Dr. Marsh said there’s still
plenty of room for improvement.
“Never be satisfied with the
number of eggs your hens are
producing. There’s always
something you can do to get more
production."
A well-fed, well-managed, well
watered laying hen has the
potential for laying an egg a day
for a year. The reason they don’t is
management, Dr. Marsh said.
Scientists have bred chickens to
produce an egg a day, and there’s
some evidence to indicate that
that’s about all the faster a good
bird can go.
Dr. Marsh talked at some length
about the body chemistry of laying
hens, and how to manage them for
top production. Management
starts with pullets, he said.
“A lot of farmers think when
they fill their laying houses with
pullets that they’ve got to feed the
birds right away. That’s not so.
They need water right away, but
(Turn to Page A 25)
Dr. Clyde Marsh, veterinarian in the Poultry Science
at Ohio State University, stresses importance of flock
sampling program at Pennfield Corp. seminar.
It takes more than wire
to make a cage system. More
than anything else it takes
a feeder.
Sure, other components
are important, but mainly
it’s the feeder that makes the
system. That’s why Big
Dutchman’s Systems are
equipped with a SPEED
FEED chain feeder that
feeds every bird the right
amount at the right time,
without waste.
When you compare
poultry equipment remem
ber that the real test of a
cage system is its feeder.
Big Dutchman is ready for
the test.
Big Dutchman, where
proven ideas are put
into action.
Don’t Settle For
Anything Less Than
The Original
6i<j Dutchman.
Huey equipment
COMPANY, INC.
SYCAMORE IND. PARK
255 PLANE TREE DRIVE
LANCASTER, PA 17603
(717)393-5807
Route 30 West At
TheCerrtervttle Exit
-Lancaster Famine, Saturday, April 10,1M2—A23
Dept
blood
Jib
w
I'M NOT
L10N...
The Clauttinl
Livestock
Section
Has Beastly
Selections!
Made for
comfort
You’ve earned
your Winks' fBJB*
Red Wings
BOOKS
3HOE SERVICE
107 E. STATE ST.
QUARRYVILLE, PA
17566
717-786-2795
CLOSED WEDNESDAYS
Mi-Risk Federal
Crop Insurance is
now available from
Van Cieve Real Estate
Before you spend a
fortune planting your
crops this year, think
about protecting
yourself with All-Risk
Federal Crop In
surance Just call
717-392-3032
Find out how the
benefits of all-risk
insurance can be
tailored to your
farming operation
All-Risk Federal
Crap Insurance In
good years and bad.
it pays o-'iTX
o« .
AlMMefc ‘
FMtonri CrophMmnc*